SHERIFF’S DEPARTMENT BRINGS CWP PROGRAM TO ELIHU GREENWOOD SCHOOL IN HYDE PARK

Members of a Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department Community Works Program (CWP) crew were hard at work painting the fence around the Elihu Greenwood Elementary School in Hyde Park.

Recently, the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department deployed a Community
Works Program (CWP) crew into Hyde Park to help with refurbishing efforts underway
at the Elihu Greenwood Elementary School over the summer months.

Doing their work over a two-week span prior to the resumption of classes for the
2009-‘10 school year, the CWP crew painted the school’s wrought iron fence,
which encompasses the full property around the building and school grounds.

“It was a great surprise to be able to have the crew from the Sheriff’s
Department come out to paint our fence,” said Elihu Greenwood Principal Maudlin
Wright. “The fence needed painting badly and I was elated that they were able to
come here to do it. It really has made a tremendous difference in beautifying the
schoolyard and we’re greatly appreciative of the work that has been done.”

The CWP program was created for low–risk inmates at the HOC who have received
vocational training through the Sheriff’s Common Ground institute in areas that
include landscaping and ground maintenance, painting, building maintenance, and carpentry.

These inmates are then transported into Suffolk County to utilize their newly learned
skills to make improvements to public spaces. The goal of the program is to reduce
recidivism by teaching inmates to become employable citizens upon release, while also
saving thousands of tax dollars on each project the crews work on.

According to Heather McNeil, Director of the Community Works Program for the Sheriff’s
Department, the benefits produced by the completion of such assignments throughout Suffolk
County have an effect that goes well beyond the cosmetic.

“Having our CWP crews come out to do work like this not only saves the tax payers
money,” McNeil said, “it also allows school custodians more time that can be
spent on the important things inside their schools.”

“Our work at the Greenwood School also serves as a beautification and training project
for the inmates who have never painted before, and it makes the school look better for the parents,
faculty and community at large.”

Other projects that the Sheriff’s Department CWP crews have taken on in recent months
include: carpentry work and painting of the Massachusetts State Police barracks in Leveret Circle;
the landscaping of Jeffries Point in East Boston; landscaping of the Boston Police Department’s
Area B-4 lot; the removal of debris from and landscaping of Melnea Cass Boulevard; the landscaping
of the Boston Police Department’s K-9 training facility in Mattapan; the building of retaining
walls for the Boston Police Department’s Firing Range; the landscaping of baseball parks in
Dorchester’s Savin Hill; painting and carpentry for Dorchester Little League; and many other jobs.